On Saturday April 29 at 12.17pm, the NSRI Kommetjie and NSRI Hout Bay duty crews responded to reports of the motor boat Vita Beata in trouble.
The Vita Beata had two Simon’s Town men onboard, and was taking water and had suffered mechanical failure.
The men said they suspected that they had accidentally struck a whale while under way, and their boat was lying at a position approximately three quarters of a nautical mile off-shore of Kommetjie.
The NSRI Kommetjie sea rescue craft Spirit of the Vines and the NSRI Hout Bay sea rescue craft Nadine Gordimer responded, carrying extra water extrication pumps.
On arrival, three NSRI rescue crew were put aboard the casualty boat and found the owner and his skipper, both very experienced boaters, using all of their water extrication pumps – and a hand held bilge pump – to stem the ingress of water. The boat suffered extensive dam-
age and had bent propeller shafts.
The men were able to stem the inflow of water using their own equipment and while the water ingress damage was repaired, NSRI took up a tow-line and towed them to Hout Bay Harbour.
The sea rescue craft Tintswalo Phoenix was launched to help get the boat to a mooring in Hout Bay.
The casualty boat crew managed to temporarily repair and stop the inflow of water while under tow and once safely moored in Hout Bay Harbour no further assistance was required. The owner will make arrangements to repair his boat.
There was no sign of the whale and the condition of the whale remains unknown.
